Richard L. Daft - Management. 9th ed., 2010

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PART 5 LEADING410

manager who remains somewhat aloof from his employees and likes to maintain

strict control over every aspect of the business. He enforces a dress code, sets tough

goals and standards, and holds people strictly accountable. “We go to work to realize

our professional ambitions, not to have a good time,” Siebel says.

Both Siebel and

McGovern have been successful as leaders, although their styles are quite different.

This chapter explores one of the most widely discussed and researched topics in

management—leadership. Here we de ne leadership and explore how managers

develop leadership qualities. We look at some important leadership approaches for

contemporary organizations, as well as examine trait, behavioral, and contingency the-

ories of leadership effectiveness, discuss charismatic and transformational leadership,

explore the role of followership, and consider how leaders use power and in uence to

get things done. The  nal section of the chapter discusses servant leadership and moral

leadership, two enduring approaches that have received renewed emphasis in recent

years. Chapters 15 through 17 will look in detail at many of the functions of leadership,

including employee motivation, communication, and encouraging teamwork.

THE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP

Perhaps no topic is more important to organizational success than leadership. In

most situations, a team, military unit, or volunteer organization is only as good as its

leader. Consider the situation in Iraq, as U.S. military advisors strive to build Iraqi

forces that can take over security duties without support from coalition troops. Many

trainers say they encounter excellent individual soldiers

and junior leaders but that many of the senior commanders

are stuck in old authoritarian patterns that undermine their

units. Whether an Iraqi unit succeeds or fails often comes

down to one person—its commander—so advisors are put-

ting emphasis on  nding and strengthening good leaders.

Top leaders make a difference in business organizations as

well. Baron Partners Fund picks stocks based largely on

an evaluation of companies’ senior executives, because it

believes top leaders who are smart, honorable, and treat

their employees right typically lead their companies to

greater  nancial success and greater shareholder returns.

The approach has proved successful, helping Baron’s diver-

si ed stock fund consistently perform well.

Among all the ideas and writings about leadership, three

aspects stand out—people, in uence, and goals. Leadership

occurs among people, involves the use of in uence, and

is used to attain goals.

In uence means that the relation-

ship among people is not passive. Moreover, in uence is

designed to achieve some end or goal. Thus, leadership as

de ned here is the ability to in uence people toward the

attainment of goals. This de nition captures the idea that

leaders are involved with other people in the achievement of goals. Leadership is

reciprocal, occurring among people.

Leadership is a “people” activity, distinct from

administrative paper shuf ing or problem-solving activities.

CONTEMPORARY LEADERSHIP

The concept of leadership evolves as the needs of organizations change. That is, the

environmental context in which leadership is practiced in uences which approach

might be most effective, as well as what kinds of leaders are most admired by society.

CEO Matt Rubel moved Payless

Shoes from bargain shopping to the frontlines of fashion. Under

his leadership, Kansas-based Payless opened a design studio in

Manhattan and partnered with young designers to offer exclusive

designer shoes and handbags. He took the helm in 2005, and

in 2006 Payless nearly doubled its earnings. Thanks to Rubel’s

makeover, Payless is luring fashion-conscious consumers who

wouldn’t have considered shopping there before. In 2007,

Footwear News named Rubel its “Person of the Year.”

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CHAPTER 14 LEADERSHIP 411

Leading

The technology, economic conditions, labor conditions, and social and cultural mores

of the times all play a role. A signi cant in uence on leadership styles in recent years

is the turbulence and uncertainty of the environment. Ethical and economic dif cul-

ties, corporate governance concerns, globalization, changes in technology, new ways

of working, shifting employee expectations, and signi cant social transitions have

contributed to a shift in how we think about and practice leadership.

Of particular interest for leadership in contemporary times is a postheroic approach

that focuses on the subtle, unseen, and often unrewarded acts that good leaders per-

form every day, rather than on the grand accomplishments of celebrated business

heroes.

During the 1980s and 1990s, leadership became equated with larger-than-

life personalities, strong egos, and personal ambitions. In contrast, the postheroic

leader’s major characteristic is humility.

Humility means being unpretentious and

modest rather than arrogant and prideful. Humble leaders don’t have to be in the

center of things. They quietly build strong, enduring companies by developing and

supporting others rather than touting their own abilities and accomplishments. The

idea of the leader as a lone hero is deeply embedded in our culture, but the chal-

lenges of recent years have spurred leaders to take a more collaborative, integrated

approach. A study by the Center for Creative Leadership found that more than

84 percent of business leaders surveyed agree that the de nition of effective leader-

ship has changed since the turn of the century, with many of them citing interdepen-

dence as a key to success.

Two approaches that are in tune with postheroic leadership

for today’s times are Level 5 leadership and interactive leadership.

What did your score on the “Personal Style” questions at the beginning of this chapter

say about your humility? Go to the ethical dilemma on pages 433–434 that pertains

to postheroic leadership for turbulent times.

Level 5 Leadership

A study conducted by Jim Collins and his research associates identi ed the critical

importance of what Collins calls Level 5 leadership in transforming companies from

merely good to truly great organizations.

As described in his book Good to Great: Why

Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don’t, Level 5 leadership refers to the

highest level in a hierarchy of manager capabilities, as illustrated in Exhibit 14.1.

A key characteristic of Level 5 leaders is an almost complete lack of ego, coupled

with a  erce resolve to do what is best for the organization. In contrast to the view

of great leaders as larger-than-life personalities with strong egos and big ambitions,

Level 5 leaders often seem shy and unpretentious. Although they accept full respon-

sibility for mistakes, poor results, or failures, Level 5 leaders give credit for successes

to other people. For example, Joseph F. Cullman III, former CEO of Philip Morris,

staunchly refused to accept credit for the company’s long-term success, citing his

great colleagues, successors, and predecessors as the reason for the accomplishments.

Another example is Darwin E. Smith. When he was promoted to CEO of Kimberly-

Clark, Smith questioned whether the board really wanted to appoint him because he

didn’t believe he had the quali cations a CEO needed.

Few people have ever heard of Darwin Smith, who led Kimberly-Clark from 1971 to 1991—

and that’s probably just the way he wanted it. Smith was somewhat shy and awkward in

social situations, and he was never featured in splashy articles in Fortune magazine or The Wall

Street Journal. Yet anyone who interpreted his appearance and demeanor as a sign of ineptness

soon learned differently. Smith demonstrated an aggressive determination to revive Kimberly-

Clark, which at the time was a stodgy old paper company that had seen years of falling stock

prices. When he took over, the company’s core business was in coated paper. Convinced that

this approach doomed the company to mediocrity, Smith took the controversial step of sell-

ing the company’s paper mills and investing all its resources in consumer products such as

Kleenex and Huggies diapers.

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PART 5 LEADING412

Over his 20 years as CEO, Smith turned Kimberly-Clark into the leading consumer

paper pr

oducts company in the world, beating rivals Scott Paper and Procter & Gamble.

The company generated cumulative stock returns that were 4.1 times greater than those of

the general market. When asked about his exceptional performance after his retirement,

Smith said simply, “I never stopped trying to become qualiﬁ ed for the job.”

As the example of Darwin Smith illustrates, despite their personal humility,

Level 5 leaders have a strong will to do whatever it takes to produce great and

lasting results for their organizations. They are extremely ambitious for their com-

panies rather than for themselves. This goal becomes highly evident in the area of

succession planning. Level 5 leaders develop a solid corps of leaders throughout

the organization, so that when they leave the company can continue to thrive and

grow even stronger. Egocentric leaders, by contrast, often set their successors up for

failure because it will be a testament to their own greatness if the company doesn’t

perform well without them. Rather than building an organization around “a genius

with a thousand helpers,” Level 5 leaders want everyone to develop to their fullest

potential.

Interactive Leadership

The focus on minimizing personal ambition and developing others is also a hallmark

of interactive leadership. Interactive leadership means that the leader favors a con-

sensual and collaborative process, and in uence derives from relationships rather

than position power and formal authority.

For example, Nancy Hawthorne, former

chief  nancial of cer at Continental Cablevision Inc., felt that her role as a leader

was to delegate tasks and authority to others and to help them be more effective. “I

was being traf c cop and coach and facilitator,” Hawthorne says. “I was always into

building a department that hummed.”

Interest in interactive leadership grew partly from observations about the differ-

ences in how women and men lead. Research indicates that women’s style of lead-

ership is typically different from most men’s and is particularly suited to today’s

organizations.

Using data from actual performance evaluations, one study found that

when rated by peers, subordinates, and bosses, female managers score signi cantly

EXHIBIT 14.1 Level 5 Hierarchy

Level 5: Level 5 Executive

Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical

blend of personal humility and professional will.

Level 4: Effective Leader

Catalyzes commitment to and vigorous

pursuit of a clear and compelling vision,

stimulating higher performance standards.

Level 3: Competent Manager

Organizes people and resources toward the

effective and efﬁ cient pursuit of predetermined

objectives.

Level 2: Contributing Team Member

Contributes individual capabilities to the

achievement of group objectives and works

effectively with others in a group setting.

Level 1: Highly Capable Individual

Makes productive contributions through talent,

knowledge, skills, and good work habits.

with permission from Jim Collins.

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CHAPTER 14 LEADERSHIP 413

Leading

higher than men on abilities such as motivating others, fostering communication, and

listening.

Another study of leaders and their followers in organizations including

businesses, universities, and government agencies found that women typically score

higher on social and emotional skills, which are crucial for interactive leadership.

However, men can be interactive leaders as well, as illustrated by the example of Pat

McGovern of IDG earlier in the chapter. For McGovern, having personal contact with

employees and letting them know they’re appreciated is a primary responsibility

of leaders. The characteristics associated with interactive leadership are emerging

as valuable qualities for both male and female leaders in today’s workplace. Values

associated with interactive leadership include personal humility, inclusion, relation-

ship building, and caring.

As a new manager, will your interpersonal style ﬁ t the contemporary leadership

approaches described in the text? To ﬁ nd out, complete the New Manager Self-Test

below.

TakeaMoment

Interpersonal Patterns

The majority of a new manager’s work is accom-

plished through interpersonal relationships. To

understand your relationship pattern, consider the

following verbs. These 20 verbs describe some of

the ways people feel and act from time to time.

Think about your behavior in groups. How do you

feel and act in groups? Check the ﬁ ve verbs that

best describe your behavior in groups as you see it.

_____ acquiesce _____ coordinate _____ lead

_____ advise _____ criticize _____ oblige

_____ agree _____ direct _____ relinquish

_____ analyze _____ disapprove _____ resist

_____ assist _____ evade _____ retreat

_____ concede _____ initiate _____ withdraw

_____ concur _____ judge

SCORING AND INTERPRETATION: Two

underlying patterns of interpersonal behavior

are represented in the preceding list: dominance

(authority or control) and sociability (intimacy or

friendliness). Most individuals tend either to like

to control things (high dominance) or to let others

control things (low dominance). Similarly, most

persons tend to be either warm and personal (high

sociability) or somewhat distant and impersonal

(low sociability). In the following diagram, circle

the ﬁ ve verbs in the list that you used to describe

yourself. The set of ten verbs in either horizontal

row (sociability dimension) or vertical column

(dominance dimension) in which three or more

are circled represents your tendency in interper-

sonal behavior.

High Low

Dominance Dominance

High Sociability advises acquiesces

coordinates agrees

directs assists

initiates concurs

leads obliges

Low Sociability analyzes concedes

criticizes evades

disapproves relinquishes

judges retreats

resists withdraws

Your behavior pattern suggested in the dia-

gram is a clue to your interpersonal style as a

new manager. Which of the quadrants provides

the best description of you? Is that the type of

leader you aspire to become? Generally speaking,

the high sociability and high dominance pattern

reﬂ ects the type of leader to which many new

managers aspire. How does your pattern cor-

respond to the Level 5 and interactive leadership

patterns described in the text?

SOURCE: David W. Johnson and Frank P. Johnson, Joining

Together: Group Theory and Group Skills, 8th ed. (New York: Allyn

and Bacon, 2003), pp. 189–190. Used with permission.

New ManagerSelf-Test

PART 5 LEADING414

FROM MANAGEMENT TO LEADERSHIP

Hundreds of books and articles have been written in recent years about the dif-

ferences between management and leadership. Good management is essential

in organizations, yet good managers have to be leaders too, because distinctive

qualities are associated with management and leadership that provide differ-

ent strengths for the organization. As shown in Exhibit 14.2, management and

leadership re ect two different sets of qualities and skills that frequently overlap

within a single individual. A person might have more of one set of qualities than

the other, but ideally a manager develops a balance of both manager and leader

qualities.

A primary distinction between management and leadership is that management

promotes stability, order, and problem solving within the existing organizational

structure and systems. This ensures that suppliers are paid, customers invoiced,

products and services produced on time, and so forth. Leadership, on the other hand,

promotes vision, creativity, and change. Leadership means questioning the status

quo so that outdated, unproductive, or socially irresponsible norms can be replaced

to meet new challenges. Consider the challenge Susan Decker faces as she runs the

day-to-day business as the new president of Yahoo. Decker will need excellent man-

agement skills to improve  nancial results, oversee operational details, make tough

decisions, and work with managers to execute Yahoo’s strategy. She will also need

consummate leadership abilities to create and inspire people with a vision that can

help Yahoo emerge from under the shadow of search leader Google to  nd the key

to recruiting and retaining top-notch talent and to rebuild the sagging morale inside

the company.

Leadership cannot replace management; it should be in addition to manage-

ment. Good management is needed to help the organization meet current commit-

ments, while good leadership is needed to move the organization into the future.

Leadership’s power comes from being built on the foundation of a well-managed

organization.

MIND

Rational

Consulting

Persistent

Problem solving

Tough-minded

Analytical

Structured

Deliberate

Authoritative

Stabilizing

Position power

SOUL

Visionary

Passionate

Creative

Flexible

Inspiring

Innovative

Courageous

Imaginative

Experimental

Initiates change

Personal power

LEADER

QUALITIES

MANAGER

QUALITIES

EXHIBIT 14.2

Leader and Manager

Qualities

SOURCE: Based on Genevieve Capowski, “Anatomy of a Leader: Where Are

the Leaders of Tomorrow?” Management Review (March 1994): 12.

CHAPTER 14 LEADERSHIP 415

Leading

LEADERSHIP TRAITS

Early efforts to understand leadership success focused on the leader’s

traits. Traits are the distinguishing personal characteristics of a leader,

such as intelligence, honesty, self-con dence, and even appearance. The

early research looked at leaders who had achieved a level of greatness, and

hence was referred to as the Great Man approach. The idea was relatively

simple: Find out what made these people great, and select future lead-

ers who already exhibited the same traits or could be trained to develop

them. Generally, early research found only a weak relationship between

personal traits and leader success.

In recent years, interest in examining leadership traits has reemerged.

In addition to personality traits, physical, social, and work-related char-

acteristics of leaders have been studied.

Exhibit 14.3 summarizes the

physical, social, and personal leadership characteristics that have received

the greatest research support. However, these characteristics do not stand

alone. The appropriateness of a trait or set of traits depends on the leader-

ship situation. The same traits do not apply to every organization or situ-

ation. Further studies expand the understanding of leadership beyond the

personal traits of the individual to focus on the dynamics of the relation-

ship between leaders and followers.

BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES

The inability to de ne effective leadership based solely on traits led to an

interest in looking at the behavior of leaders and how it might contribute

to leadership success or failure. Two basic leadership behaviors identi ed

as important for leadership are task-oriented behavior and people-oriented

behavior. These two metacategories, or broadly de ned behavior categories,

were found to be applicable to effective leadership in a variety of situa-

tions and time periods.

Although they are not the only important leader-

ship behaviors, concern for tasks and concern for people must be shown

at some reasonable level. Thus, many approaches to understanding leadership use

these metacategories as a basis for study and comparison. Important research pro-

grams on leadership behavior were conducted at Ohio State University, University of

Michigan, and University of Texas.

Physical Characteristics

Energy

Physical stamina

Intelligence and Ability

Intelligence, cognitive ability

Knowledge

Judgment, decisiveness

Personality

Self-conﬁ dence

Honesty and integrity

Enthusiasm

Desire to lead

Independence

Social Characteristics

Sociability, interpersonal skills

Cooperativeness

Ability to enlist cooperation

Tact, diplomacy

Work-Related Characteristics

Achievement drive, desire to excel

Conscientiousness in pursuit of goals

Persistence against obstacles, tenacity

Social Background

Education

Mobility

SOURCES: Based on Bernard M. Bass, Bass & Stogdill’s Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Applications, 3rd ed. (New York: The Free Press, 1990),

pp. 80–81; and S. A. Kirkpatrick and E. A. Locke, “Leadership: Do Traits Matter?” Academy of Management Executive 5, no. 2 (1991): 48–60.

EXHIBIT 14.3 Personal Characteristics of Leaders

OGRAPHY

Linda St. Clair

(right) has been both an artistic-director of

theater productions and a personnel manager

for a technology ﬁ rm. Her interactive leadership

style worked equally well in both settings. As a

theater director, she articulated a clear over-

arching vision, supported individual artists, en-

couraged collaborative relationships—and then

let the creative process take its course. The job

of a manager isn’t very different. “When I

was at my best in the corporation,” she recalls,

“I helped people get what they needed to be

effectively creative.”Good leaders, St. Clair

believes, know how to build relationships and

act not as a commander but rather as a coach,

guide, and mentor.

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PART 5 LEADING416

Ohio State Studies

Researchers at The Ohio State University surveyed leaders to study hundreds of

dimensions of leader behavior.

They identi ed two major behaviors: consideration

and initiating structure.

Consideration falls in the category of people-oriented behavior and is the extent

to which the leader is mindful of subordinates, respects their ideas and feelings, and

establishes mutual trust. Considerate leaders are friendly, provide open communica-

tion, develop teamwork, and are oriented toward their subordinates’ welfare.

Initiating structure is the degree of task behavior, that is, the extent to which the

leader is task oriented and directs subordinate work activities toward goal attainment.

Leaders with this style typically give instructions, spend time planning, emphasize

deadlines, and provide explicit schedules of work activities.

Consideration and initiating structure are independent of each other, which

means that a leader with a high degree of consideration may be either high or

low on initiating structure. A leader may have any of four styles: high initiating

structure–low consideration, high initiating structure–high consideration, low ini-

tiating structure–low consideration, or low initiating structure–high consideration.

The Ohio State research found that the high consideration–high initiating structure

style achieved better performance and greater satisfaction than the other leader

styles. The value of the high-high style is illustrated by Bob LaDouceur, the coach

of an extraordinary high school football team.

The De La Salle Spartans football team pulled off a 151-game winning streak that lasted for

a decade—despite the fact that many of the players had previously been derided as “under-

sized” and “untalented.” Year after year, competing against bigger schools and tougher play-

ers, the De La Salle Spartans just kept on winning.

Years ago, coach Bob LaDouceur sized up his team of demoralized players and made a

decision. He was going to teach these guys what it takes to win, and then make it a day-to-

day process. LaDouceur directs close attention to the tasks needed to accomplish the goal

of winning. He keeps his players on a year-round strength and conditioning program. Each

practice is methodical, and LaDouceur tells his players to leave every practice just a little bit

better than they were when it started.

However, the coach hasn’t just institutionalized the process of drills, workouts, and

practices. He has also institutionalized a process of building bonds and intimacy among his

players. “If a team has no soul,” LaDouceur says, “you’re just wasting your time.” Tasks are

important, but for LaDouceur, people always come ﬁ rst. “It’s not about how we’re getting

better physically, it’s about how we’re getting better as people,” he says. During the off sea-

son, players go camping and rafting together and volunteer for community service. When the

season starts, the team attends chapel together for readings and songs. After every practice,

a dinner is held at a player’s home. As tensions build during the season, players are encour-

aged to speak their hearts, to confess their fears and shortcomings, and to talk about their

commitments and expectations of themselves for the next game.

The high–high leadership style of coach Bob LaDouceur has accomplished remark-

able results. Yet research indicates that the high–high style is not always necessarily

the best. Studies suggest that effective leaders may be high on consideration and

low on initiating structure or low on consideration and high on initiating structure,

depending on the situation.

Michigan Studies

Studies at the University of Michigan at about the same time took a different approach

by comparing the behavior of effective and ineffective supervisors.

The most effec-

tive supervisors were those who focused on the subordinates’ human needs to “build

effective work groups with high performance goals.” The Michigan researchers used

the term employee-centered leaders for leaders who established high performance goals

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CHAPTER 14 LEADERSHIP 417

Leading

and displayed supportive behavior toward subordinates. The less-effective leaders

were called job-centered leaders; these leaders tended to be less concerned with goal

achievement and human needs in favor of meeting schedules, keeping costs low, and

achieving production ef ciency.

The Leadership Grid

Building on the work of the Ohio State and Michigan studies, Blake and Mouton of

the University of Texas proposed a two-dimensional theory called the managerial

grid, which was later restated by Blake and McCanse as the leadership grid.

The

model and  ve of its seven major management styles are depicted in Exhibit 14.4.

Each axis on the grid is a nine-point scale, with 1 meaning low concern and 9 mean-

ing high concern.

Team management (9, 9) often is considered the most effective style and is recom-

mended for leaders because organization members work together to accomplish

tasks. Country club management (1, 9) occurs when primary emphasis is given to peo-

ple rather than to work outputs. Authority-compliance management (9, 1) occurs when

ef ciency in operations is the dominant orientation. Middle-of-the-road management

(5, 5) re ects a moderate amount of concern for both people and production. Impov-

erished management (1, 1) means the absence of a management philosophy; manag-

ers exert little effort toward interpersonal relationships or work accomplishment.

As a new manager, realize that both task-oriented behavior and people-oriented

behavior are important, although some situations call for a greater degree of one

over the other. Go to the experiential exercise on pages 432–433 to measure your

degree of task orientation and people orientation.

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PART 5 LEADING418

CONTINGENCY APPROACHES

How can two people with widely different styles both be effective leaders? The next

group of theories builds on the leader-follower relationship of behavioral approaches

to explore how the organizational situation in uences leader effectiveness. These

theories are termed contingency approaches and include the situational theory of

Hersey and Blanchard, the leadership model developed by Fiedler and his associates,

and the substitutes-for-leadership concept.

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Theory

The situational theory of leadership is an interesting extension of the behavioral the-

ories summarized in the leadership grid (see Exhibit 14.4). Hersey and Blanchard’s

approach focuses a great deal of attention on the characteristics of followers in deter-

mining appropriate leadership behavior. The point of Hersey and Blanchard is that

subordinates vary in readiness level. People low in task readiness—because of little

ability or training or insecurity—need a different leadership style than those who are

high in readiness and have good ability, skills, con dence, and willingness to work.

According to the situational theory, a leader can adopt one of four leadership styles,

based on a combination of relationship (concern for people) and task (concern for pro-

duction) behavior. The appropriate style depends on the readiness level of followers.

Exhibit 14.5 summarizes the relationship between leader style and follower readi-

ness. The telling style re ects a high concern for tasks and a low concern for people

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CHAPTER 14 LEADERSHIP 419

Leading

and relationships. This highly directive style involves giving explicit directions about

how tasks should be accomplished. The selling style is based on a high concern for

both people and tasks. With this approach, the leader explains decisions and gives

subordinates a chance to ask questions and gain clarity and understanding about

work tasks. The next leader behavior style, the participating style, is based on a combi-

nation of high concern for people and relationships and low concern for production

tasks. The leader shares ideas with subordinates, gives them a chance to participate,

and facilitates decision making. The fourth style, the delegating style, re ects a low

concern for both relationships and tasks. This leader style provides little direction

and little support because the leader turns over responsibility for decisions and their

implementation to subordinates.

The bell-shaped curve in Exhibit 14.5 is called a prescriptive curve because it

indicates when each leader style should be used. The readiness level of followers is

indicated in the lower part of the exhibit. R1 is low readiness and R4 represents high

readiness. The telling style is for low readiness followers because people are unable

or unwilling—because of poor ability and skills, little experience, or insecurity—to

take responsibility for their own task behavior. The leader is speci c, telling people

exactly what to do, how to do it, and when. The selling and participating styles work

for followers at moderate readiness levels. For example, followers might lack some

education and experience for the job but have high con dence, interest, and willing-

ness to learn. As shown in the exhibit, the selling style is effective in this situation

because it involves giving direction but also includes seeking input from others and

clarifying tasks rather than simply instructing that they be performed. When followers

have the necessary skills and experience but are somewhat insecure in their abilities

or lack high willingness, the participating style enables the leader to guide followers’

development and act as a resource for advice and assistance. When followers dem-

onstrate high readiness, that is, they have high levels of education, experience, and

readiness to accept responsibility for their own task behavior, the delegating style can

effectively be used. Because of the high readiness level of followers, the leader can

delegate responsibility for decisions and their implementation to subordinates who

have the skills, abilities, and positive attitudes to follow through. The leader provides

a general goal and suf cient authority to do the task as followers see  t.

To apply the Hersey and Blanchard model, the leader diagnoses the readiness level

of followers and adopts the appropriate style—telling, selling, participating, or delegat-

ing. Using the incorrect style can hurt morale and performance. Consider what hap-

pened when Lawrence Summers, former president of Harvard University, tried to use

a primarily telling style with followers who were at high readiness levels. Summers

employed an assertive top-down style with followers who think of themselves not as

employees but as partners in an academic enterprise. Faculty members at most univer-

sities have long been accustomed to decentralized, democratic decision making and

having a say in matters such as department mergers or new programs of study. Sum-

mers made many decisions on his own that followers thought should be put to a faculty

vote. Summers’ leadership approach led to serious con icts with some faculty members

and demands for his ouster. Eventually, a vote of no con dence from faculty convinced

Summers to resign with many of his goals and plans for the university unrealized.

Fiedler’s Contingency Theory

Whereas Hersey and Blanchard focused on the characteristics of followers, Fiedler

and his associates looked at some other elements of the organizational situation to

assess when one leadership style is more effective than another.

The starting point for

Fiedler’s theory is the extent to which the leader’s style is task oriented or relation-

ship (people) oriented. Fiedler considered a person’s leadership style to be relatively

 xed and dif cult to change; therefore, the basic idea is to match the leader’s style

with the situation most favorable for his or her effectiveness. By diagnosing leader-

ship style and the organizational situation, the correct  t can be arranged.